Zombie Nation
by livingstatue
Summary: A virus outbreak leaves Timmy all but alone in a post-apocalyptic world. Rated for Language, Violence, and Sexual Context. This story is a collaboration between me and a friend, so I apologize if things get really strange during the story,
1. Prologue

Disclaimer - I DO NOT OWN FAIRLY ODDPARENT OR ANY BAND, SONG, PLACES, OBJECT, OR MOVIE MENTIONED IN ANY OF MY CHAPTERS IS ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM AND I MAKE NO MONEY PUTTING THEM IN MY STORIES!

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Author Note:

First of all, this is a very different story from my Tiffany FoP Trilogy story that I am writing.  
Also this takes place in an AU where Timmy never had friends, so before anyone starts questioning where everybody is, they are coming, but only I know when they will be revealed. Have fun reading and any suggestion will be considered and added if deemed worthy.

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Song List:  
Zombie Nation – by – Max Houseman

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**Zombie Nation**

Chapter 0  
**Prologue**

If you were to ask me five weeks ago if I would give up my life for a girl I never met before, I would have said you were crazy. Today, it is a different story. This girl had some sort of spell on my heart. She changed me from the typical little shut-in forced to venture forth to survive, into someone that would rush into the face of defeat into order to save the life of others. Well, one other. _She_ is my world now. As long as she lives, I know there is hope for the world.

My only regret is that I will not get to see her again. I wanted to apologize for all the hurtful things I said. I didn't mean them. I was trying to protect her. The only way to do that was to make sure she stayed within the city walls while I once again headed out into the wasteland in hopes to capture one of the creatures for testing.

It seems almost fitting that I have brought this upon myself. The only chance I have of getting out of this situation now is a miracle. I know it's not going to happen, because let's face it I don't deserve to be saved. I've killed so many people and save so few, why would anyone decide to rescue me. And the only one that would come to my aid, no longer cares about me.


	2. Carry on Wayward Son

Disclaimer- I DO NOT OWN FAIRLY ODDPARENT or any song, band, places, objects, or movies mentioned and I make no money by adding them to my story.

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Song List:  
Carry on Wayward Son – by – Kansas

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**Zombie Nation**

Chapter 1  
**Carry on Wayward Son**

The large white build stood before me, abandoned. Sad to think dozens of people used to walk in and out of here every day. Now this place is a ghost town. Ha, I wish. Sadly, it is not ghost that now inhabit this build. No, the creatures in here are far more dangerous. Oh well, I came here for a reason and I'm going to see it through.

I walked up to the automatic door to find it didn't work. The electricity has been sporadic for a while now, so I figured as much and forced my way inside. There was little to no light, reminding me that the sun was going down and I needed to hurry. During the days it's not too bad, but those creatures are more active at night. While trying to avoid stepping on dead bodies, I systematically worked my way through the building, moving from room to room in searched of the item I desired. I just hope I can find the small green liquid filled bottle here. This is the second hospital I have checked.

As I made my way to third floor, I heard moaning, and not the kind you would want to hear. Slowly opening the door a creak I saw them, a group of five walking dead gathered around what looked like a fresh kill. An involuntary shudder shook my spine as I slowly back out, silently closing the door behind me. Quickly and quietly I climbed up to the fourth floor landing only stopping once I realized they were not following me. I stood there for a moment with the air hissing threw my gas mask trying to catch my breath.

Thank goodness they didn't hear or see me because I'm running low on ammo. It's not that I don't have enough ammunition, but it's all in my pack right now, which is not easily accessible. So until I find a place to settle for the night and reload, I'll have to settle with what is already loaded in my weapons. Thankfully, with six slug shots left in my custom shotgun it's enough to deal with the five of them, but if any missed, that would be it. My only resort would be the one backup bullet in my revolver. Let's just say, I'd rather eat a bullet then be eaten alive.

One may ask me, why am I out here if it's so dangerous? The answer is simple. I'm looking for the cure. Not the cure to the infection outbreak, but to becoming infected. You see, there are two strains to the virus, the airborne stain and the main virus. You can prevent infection from the airborne strain by becoming inoculated with the medicine I am looking for. However, if you were biting, that's it, you're done.

The reason this whole mess started, antibiotics. Put simply, too many people were taking them for the wrong reasons. As a result, many germs and diseases have become immune to antibiotic treatments. So some scientist big brain decided to make the ultimate antibiotic. Essentially, it was a virus, designed to merge with a person's immune system, the white blood cells to be specific, to help seek out and destroy the antibiotic resistance bacteria.

As with any FDA approved drug or treatment, it has to go through animal and then human trials. So where did everything go wrong? Simple, some animal activist decided they didn't like the medical community testing an unknown virus on animals and broke into the facility to set them free. What they didn't know was the trials were already underway when they set upon their course of action.

Originally the animals were kept in an airtight camber to prevent anything from contaminating the results. Even the scientist entering the rooms had to wear re-breathers to prevent contamination. Essentially, everything was going fine. The news media was all abuzz about the promise of the ultimate cure.

Before the cure could be tested on humans, things took a turn for the worst. The vaccine was undergoing the second series of testing. Some new animals were brought in, and within a few days testing, one of the animals started showing strange symptoms. It started with its eyes, the blood vessels ruptured, turning them red with black pupils, quickly followed by a hacking cough and sensitivity to light. Then its hair started falling out while the skin turned thin and ashy. It was the first to show negative symptoms of the virus and was quickly named patient X.

Soon it wasn't the only one. The scientists were baffled as more of the new animals started showing the same symptoms of patient X shortly after arriving. They had not changed the formula, so they couldn't understand why the new arrivals were not progressing the same way the original test animals did.

The scientist quickly figured out something was wrong, because those that mirrored patient X were experiencing seizures and collapsing in their cages. When the seizures stopped, the animals became driven for foods high in protein. They craved red meat. Soon, their appetite drove them to violence and cannibalism.

The experiment was deemed a failure and the violent animals were scheduled to be destroyed. The night before the scientist could euthanize the animals, the activists broke into the facility to release the animals. The whole scene turned into a fiasco. The animals infected with the virus attacked the activists, tearing them limp from limp, and ate them. Police arrived in response to a silent alarm to the gruesome scene. They quickly shot and killed the violent animals before they could cause more harm. Search of the facility revealed one survivor who was rushed to the hospital.

A couple of days after the incident, everyone in hospital were experiencing the same symptoms as the rage fueled animals. They weren't the only ones, residence that lived several miles from the facility started showing up with the same symptoms. The whole area was quickly quarantined and scientists were called upon to test the red eyed people. After extensive testing, the scientist speculated what had happened.

The scientists believed side effects were being caused by a mutation in the virus, which had somehow become airborne. The reason the original research team had no idea about this, was because anyone entering the room with the test animal wore re-breathers. They were never exposed to the air in the room. When the activist entered the room, they left all the doors open, instantly releasing the virus to spread.

It was a mad rush to find a cure. They went back to the main facility for answers. They found the animals that had not been put down because of non-violent activities were immune to the new airborne virus. With this find, the government rushed production and destitution of the original vaccination despite the risk of possibly making it worse. However, the supply was nowhere near enough to meet demand, so they released any vile left over from the testing facility, giving the sick, elderly, and school children priority.

While people were getting vaccinated, the first of the infected started turning violent. Mass hysteria ran rampant as people surrounding the initial outbreak zone started fleeing the area. Soon the army was called in to keep the infected contained, and if they tried to get out, eliminate them. The troops realized they were outmatched by the sheer numbers of their enemies when the hoard of the undead descended upon them, and all too soon became either infected or lunch.

Meanwhile, the infection had spread to all the major cities and was quickly expanded to the surrounding areas. All forms of travel to and from America were immediately canceled, resulting in the country becoming quarantined. Right in the nick of time too because by the fourth day after the break-in, the infection spanned the whole country. Within a week of the outbreak, ninety percent of the population was either dead or infected. Those that remained were now forced to face the living dead.

The sad thing is, during that week, I was trapped in my family's safe room. That's right. I survived the outbreak by sheer dumb luck, and I do mean dumb. What happened? I was moving some new supplies into the safe room, which my father instructed me to place on a high shelf. I ended up losing my balance on the ladder and grabbed hold onto a wire as I fell. When it broke, it tripped the alarm sealing the room automatically for a week. The room could only be opened before the week is over from the outside. Unfortunately, my parents were out of town. I was moving the stuff because of a note left behind. Yeah, that's right, the first day they were gone, and I lock myself in the safe room.

Thankfully, the safe room was stocked with enough food, water, and other supplies to last the week, if not longer, and start the rebuilding of the country. Not to mention its own air supply. During my accidental incarceration, I spent my time listening to what was going on outside with the help of a crank powered radio.

Originally, I thought my parents were crazy, always going on about the end of the world. Training me on how to build and use a gun, and survive in the wild. When I heard of the horrors going on in the world of the outside, I couldn't believe my ears. My father was right. Yeah, those are four words I never thought I would say.

I knew when that door opened, I would have to leave. I couldn't stay there for long. But I would need a reliable gun. I had no working gun, my father had taken his rifle to a shooting competition across the country, but thankfully I had plenty of parts. I had enough parts to build two 12-guage pump-action shotguns, both a left and right handed. My father and I were going to build them as a celebration of getting my license to carry on my eighteenth birthday. Personally, I'm right handed, my father left. I sat down and started putting my gun together when an idea came to me. I don't know if it was genius or insanity due to my isolation, but I decided to use all the parts and make one big gun.

I started with a spare pistol grip and adjustable stock for my father's rifle. After assembling the rest of the two shotguns with magazine extensions, I attached it to the stock using a bracket that I had to make. For added stability, I drilled two holes near the back to feed a bolt through the two and then wrapped a metal band around the front to hold them together. Finally, using some left over steel, I welded the two pump handles together and attached a forward mount to the bracket. The thing was a monster, from stock to barrel tip it had to be three feet long and weighed at least twenty pounds. Good thing I have a shoulder strap for it.

When I was finished with the gun, I started making a list of what I needed and what could be spared. The plan was supposed to be for the whole family of three to leave together and each of us would carry something. Now I had to take everything alone, and I couldn't afford to leave anything behind. Once I figured out what I could carry, I grabbed one of the internal frame backpacks and started loading it with the items on my list: waterproof military grade sleeping bag, survival knife, fire striker, collapsing shovel, three boxes of ammunition, and a few other essentials need to survive in the wild and post-apocalyptic world. I would just have to remember to grab the one week of MRE rations bag when I leave. With any luck, I could stretch it to two maybe three weeks, depending how often I eat.

Yet something was still wrong. The news reports said the virus was airborne. I would need something to filter out the air. It wasn't like I had my own air supply outside the safe room. A gas mask would make a good filter, but like my gun, I decided to take it a step further. Using some hose and a small plastic snap-lid storage container, I fashioned the device to have one hose leading to the bottom of the box with another right at the top. By adding water to the halfway mark, it would catch what was in the air and let the oxygen through. I saw someone use it to filter cigarette smoke once on YouTube, so why wouldn't it work. For a finishing touch, I made a bracket for it so I could wear it on my belt.

At the end of the seventh day, the alarm sounded, signaling the door would open in two minutes. I threw on the makeshift mask, grabbed my bags and gun, and waited. The locks clanged, the hinge squeak, and the door was open. Air bubbled through the water filter and reached my lungs. The air felt humid because of the water, but other than that, normal. No weird smell or taste, just good clean air.

Now free, I made my way from the basement to the second floor to get an idea of what awaited me outside. Sure enough, there were three people gathered around the corpse of my neighbor, eating his flesh. That image would forever be burned in my mind. Poor Dinkleberg, my father may not have liked him, but he wasn't such a bad guy. He even sacrificed a kidney so my father could live.

Other than the three zombies eating my neighbor, there were no signs of life on my street, a few more bodies here and there, but all dead. If everyone else has left town, I guessed I should too. First I needed to change clothes. After all, I have been wearing the same getup for a week. I opened my drawer and found them almost empty. Crap, I forgot that I was going to do laundry after putting away my father's supplies. Not like I had time to do it now. The only thing left was a red and black button up flannel shirt that I usually wear when I go hunting with my father and a pair of blue jeans, along with some socks and underwear. I changed as quickly and carefully as possible as to not slip the water in my filter, gathered what I could take with me from my room, and headed back down stair. Seconds before opening the locked door, something caught my eye.

Sitting on the fireplace mantle in a small box was my father's most prized possession, a Colt Frontier Single-Action Six-Shooter restored and modified to take modern forty-five caliber bullets. The wooden grip was new, freshly stained and polished, to enhance the thirteen karat gold plating my father had put on it in celebration of winning last year's shooting competition with that firearm. I opened the box and marveled in the sheer beauty of the firearm before me. Even more amazing, there were thirty bullets in the box. I felt like it was Christmas, even if the streets were stained in blood instead of snow. A quick search of my parent's closet revealed the revolver's holster belt with twenty-four bullet loops. Perfect.

I set the belt, put a bullet in every loop with the remaining six in the gun itself, and holstered the gun. I barely felt the weight on my hip, and if I slip the gun forward a little I could use the shotgun and have the revolver ready as a backup. I felt like I was finally ready to greet the post-apocalyptic world that awaited me outside and made my way back to the main door.

Like an action star, I kicked the door open with gusto, instantly catching the attention of the zombies still picking at my neighbor. I locked eyes with them through the plastic shield of my mask and smiled. "Come and get it!"

The one closest to me dropped the arm he was holding and let out a gurgling roar before charging for me. I cocked the gun, aimed at its head, and pulled the first trigger. No sooner did he drop then the next one was behind him. A pull of the second trigger ended its pursuit. The third zombie was the only one left. I quickly cocked the gun, pulled the trigger, and nothing. In my haste, I didn't pull the pump back all the way, so it never loaded the new rounds. Once again I slammed the handle back as far as I could as fast as I could.

The creature was at door step by the time I pointed my gun back forward. For a second I feared I was going to die, until the sound of the gunshot rang in the air. Due to my lack of ability to aim so quickly, I only struck it in the right collarbone. It fell backwards, but was still moving, trying to get up with its only working arm. I walked over, pointed at its head, and ended its afterlife.

I sat for a minute crying, and I couldn't figure out why. Was it the lost of my neighbor, the near lost of my own life, or the lost of the last of my innocence by taking a life, even if it was the life of the living dead.

When I pulled myself together, I did what was necessary. I dragged the zombie bodies over to the remains of my neighbor's corpse. Once they were all in a big pile, I returned to my home to grab some lighter fluid from the garage and squirted a small amount on bodies. After placing the bottle in my bag for further use, I pulled my fire starter out of my pocket and gave it a good strike. The sparks flew into the fluid soaked pile, which instantly burst into flames. The heat was intense, and even through the soaped-up filter I could smell the smoke. I only hoped that wasn't bad. After all, it was zombie 101: shot in the head, decapitate, and burn.

That was just under a week ago. Since then I've been walking, trying to find the cure so I could take off this mask. Do you have any idea how hard it has been to eat? Cooking soups in my dwindling water supply so I can drink them through a straw, not to mention holding my breath to change the water daily, it's a pain in the ass. But, that's why I'm here.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. I checked every room and not a sign of the bottle. I almost threw everything on the table in front of me on the floor, until I remembered there were zombies downstairs.

While I was here, I grabbed what I could: painkillers, rubbing alcohol, and bandages. Not that I've needed them yet, knock on wood, but it never hurts to be prepare. You can thank my father for that one.

I was just on my way out the door, when I spotted something, a walk-in refrigerator locked with a small peg. I got a bad feeling about this, but I just know the cure has to be behind that door. Slowly, I made my way up to the door, shotgun held out before me, and reached for the peg. In a second the door opened and I flinched. A body fell before me, clearly a zombie, but it was dead. I pocked it with the tip of my gun, ready to pull the trigger if it moved, yet it remained still. From what I can tell, it starved to death. Good to know they can still die on their own.

I stepped inside, and there it was. I could tell which one it was because it was the only one filled with green liquid, while the rest were clear. It had some big complicated name on it, but I saw what I needed to see: A-I-B Virus. I took the vile out with me a started looking for a syringe. I managed to find one wrapped in some kind of kit for another medication. Before discarding the saline inside, I noticed the virus needed to be diluted. I popped the needle through the rubber stopper and mixed the two fluids.

Using my emergency medical training from my days in the boy scouts and knowledge gained from watching too much television, I tied a loose tunicate on my arm and pumped my fist to try to reveal a vain. I gave my inner elbow a few slaps for good measure. With a vain popping up, I drew the syringe full of the vaccine, not knowing how much was required, and injected myself with all thirty milliliters to be safe.

I sat there on the floor, gun at the ready, for an hour to let it work. I look out the window. The light was almost all gone. I needed to find somewhere to hunker down. Well, if the fridge was good enough to keep one in, it could keep them out. I dragged the corpse out, making a mental note to burn it later, that much light could attract her friends.

I set all my stuff in the five-by-five room, but left the door open. I would only need to close if the zombies downstairs decide to come exploring. I highly doubt it. They have enough to feed on downstairs as it is.

Finally, I decided it was time to take the risk. I removed my mask for the first time in a week and filled my lungs. Well, that's it. A day will tell if the cure didn't work and I'm now infected. No use worrying about it, I have bigger problems. Once the light is gone, it's going to start getting cold, and I'm getting hungry. Might as well get a small fire going first, thankfully there is plenty of burnable material around me. I set it up so it was close enough to the door that the heat would radiate into the small room, but far enough outside that if unwanted guess show up that I can close it without worrying about the room being full of smoke.

When I was satisfied that I had enough spare burnable material set aside, I pulled out my first MRE pack, chicken pesto pasta, and followed the directions to start it cooking. In a few minutes, my food was ready to eat. It wasn't the best tasting meal I've had, but it was better than nothing. Once the first bite reached my stomach, I realized how hungry I was. The rest of the main meal was gone in a flash. I was tempted to cook another, but I managed to restrain myself. That was the last thing I needed, to throw caution to the wind and eat an excessive amount of food, because all that would result in is throwing it up. All that was left was the dessert, a good sized chocolate chip cookie. After stopping to think, I realized how full I felt. My stomach must have shrunk due to the lack of food. Oh well, guess I'll save it for later.

With another look out the window, I realized the only light in the room was coming from the small fire burning beside me. Guess I should try to get some sleep. Who knows the last time I got a good eight hours. Thankfully, with the heat radiating in the small room, I won't need my sleeping bag tonight, which also means if I do get an unwanted visitor I'll be able to take care of them easier. Using my pack as a pillow, I finally rested my head to let exhaustion take me to slumber. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I was almost gone when an unmistakable noise brought me back in an instant.


	3. Every Day

Disclaimer- I DO NOT OWN FAIRLY ODDPARENT or any song, band, places, objects, or movies mentioned and I make no money by adding them to my story.

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Song List:  
Every Day – by – Eric Prydz

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**Zombie Nation**

Chapter 2**  
Every Day**

My feet are killing me. Not literally of course, but I'm going to need new shoes soon. Then again, I have no idea how many miles I've walked today. Stupid car, I must have driven it halfway across the state of California and it choices to run out of gas fifty miles from my home. I thought hybrids were supposed to be fuel efficient so they could go further. Now, here I am, stranded in the middle of nowhere. Okay, maybe middle of nowhere is wrong, deserted town is more like it. I've never seen streets this empty before. Well, unless you include a dead body or two all over the place.

I really shouldn't complain though. The car got me almost five hundred miles closer to home then when I started. Besides, the car wasn't even mine, it belonged to my roommate. I don't even have my license yet. I know it was wrong to steal her car, but I was desperate. I haven't seen my family since summer break, and that was almost two months ago. Granted I've gone longer between seeing them. After all, I was attending a prestigious all-girls catholic school across state, but being far from family is always difficult.

However, feeling lonely and having sore feet is not my biggest issue right now. No, my biggest problem: I'm starving. I haven't had a proper meal in almost a week. Just thinking about food is making it worst. To try to settle my stomach, I pulled a water bottle out of my purse and take a sip, noting that I have only a quarter of the twenty ounce bottle left. When I left the academy, my water bottle was full and I had five PowerBars and a double pack of the five-hour energy drinks in my purse. Needless to say, they didn't last long. Hence my growling stomach.

Not only that, but now I have nowhere safe to sleep. For the past four days, that car has been not only my means of transportation, but shelter, warmth, and safety. And with these creatures running around, it is a very bad time to be without protection.

Wow, has it really been almost a week since the outbreak? I can't believe how fast everything fell apart. I remember how it happened too. Every day since I left the school it has been replaying in my mind again and again.

A news report on television began with something about a break-in at a nearby medical test facility. They were making some kind of super antibody to fight antibiotic resistant germs, diseases, and viruses. Something went wrong thought. Instead of getting better, some of the animal were getting really sick, even eating each other. When the virus jumped species, the government advised people to get vaccinated with an emergency vaccine. At my school, everyone was required to get it, mostly because one of the girls in my class was the daughter of a powerful politician. I was one of the first vaccinated.

The blue liquid upset my stomach after they injected me with it. I decided to lie down on my bed and take a nap for a few hours while I waited for it to settle. I awoke to screaming. I cannot remember a time that I was more scared then when I opened the door and looked in the hallway. The first thing I saw was one of the ninth grade students from up the hall on the back of the girl from the room next to mine. The older girl was screaming and running back and forth, trying to slam the younger girl on her back against a wall. She wasn't the only one either. I could hear more screaming further down the hallway and out in the courtyard. On top of that, everyone was running around in a mass hysteria.

In a moment of horror, I watched as the younger girl sank her teeth into the neck of her victim. The blood curdling scream that escaped her lips was soon drowned out by blood pouring down her throat as a large piece of flesh was ripped from her body. In seconds she dropped to the floor, dead, a crimson pool quickly spreading out underneath her.

No sooner than a gasp escaped my mouth, than the little girl turned her head towards me. Hunger flashed in her eyes as she changed towards me. I responded by trying to close the door and lock myself in. Her arm reached in, trying to grab me and I put all my energy into closing the door. As she pushed the door open with the arm not trying to grab me, I slammed the door on her other. It did nothing to deter her. It was like she didn't feel pain. I slammed it again, and this time I saw blood splash against the door frame. Yet still she tried to come after me. I hit her with the door repeatedly while begging her to stop. I lost count how many times I slammed the door, until I caught her in the elbow, severing the arm from her body, and closing the door in the process.

I quickly turned the lock, sealing myself in as she continued pounding on the door. I keep expecting her to die of blood loss now the half of her arm was gone, but she stayed at it for a while. I prayed to God that he would take this evil girl from my presence. Soon I heard her footsteps heading away from the door, probably heading back to the other girl lying on the floor. I sat there, slumped against the door, crying at what I had just done. I knew God would forgive me, but could I forgive myself?

I couldn't stay here, not if I wanted to live. The only thing I needed to do find a way out, it wasn't like I could just walk out the door after all. The first challenge was making it to ground level from the third floor. The window seemed the only option, and after opening the two panels, I almost ruled it out. It was so far down, but there was a drain pipe running next to my window. Okay, so now I had a way out, how would I get away from these creatures now running around the grounds?

That's when I saw them, my roommate's car keys. Officially she wasn't supposed to have a car on campus, but when you come from a family with money, the rules seem to not apply. Well the last I saw of her, she was across campus, serving detention for coming to class out of uniform. Judging by the amount of screaming, those things are everywhere, and there was no way she would make it here to retrieve her keys alive. I said a silent prayer asking for forgiveness as I grabbed the keys, my purse, and started climbing down the drain pipe.

When my feet finally touched the ground, I was glad that I hadn't slipped and made it down safe. A quick look around told me everything I needed to know, the nearby parking lot was empty, but it was a hundred yards between the building I was standing next to and the lot. One step after the other, I began making my way over, then they started creeping out from everywhere. My classmates, instructors, all of them had red eyes and blood dripping from their mouths. I broke out in a run. Each step brought me closer to the lot. The hole between them shrinking slowly, threatening to block any escape, and moments before it closed completely, I made it through.

Once in the parking lot, I had to find the car. Good thing it had a security system. One little button press set off the horn five cars down, sweet salvation. I climbed in slamming the door closed. They were upon the car by the time I had the key in the ignition. For a second I was terrified that they would get me, but all they did was bang on the window. What intelligence they once possessed was gone, replaced with mindless hunger. I shifted the gearbox into drive and pushed the accelerator as far down as it would go. The car lurched forward, running over three of those creatures in the process, and I tried aiming it towards the main entrance only to find the gate locked. With a might crash the car burst through the barrier. I half expected the car to die, but it kept chugging along.

It wasn't until almost an hour later that I realized that there was a soft noise coming over the speakers the whole time I was driving. When I turned the volume up, I found out it was an automatic looping emergency broadcast message warning people to stay inside, lock the doors, and arm themselves if possible. It provided little information on what was actually happening and where to seek shelter if you had none.

With nowhere else to go, I set a destination for home. I don't know how long I drove, but my legs had gone numb and I was getting hungry. A quick look at the clock told me it was almost five in the afternoon. No wonder I was hungry, I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I soon pulled over to inspect what contents remained in my purse. With minor dread I realized what little supplies I had would be insufficient to make it home. I would just have to make it last. When I get home, mom will be so happy to see me she'll make a feast big enough to feed an army.

The next three days were spent avoiding any obstacle I could, cars and bodies alike. The whole time I drove, the doors remained locked, and a good thing too. The second night I parked in a lot behind a movie theater, only to awaken to banging from more of those creatures in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I got out of there as quickly as possible. Due to the amount of abandoned and damaged vehicles, I had to drive slow and careful when not fleeing the undead. Even still, with nowhere to refill the gas tank, not that I had money to pay for it, the car ran out fuel on the fourth day at was about midday, which was hours ago.

A chill wind blew, sending a shiver through my body. The sun was about to set completely. If there was one thing I learn while driving the streets home, is those creature come out to feed at night. I should have stayed in the car one more night before heading out on foot, but I needed to find food and water if I was going to survive any longer.

Speaking of which, my stomach let out another loud growl. I had to grip my midsection to keep myself from doubling over. Straighten up I looked towards the sky, begging for salvation. When my sight came back to ground level, that was when I noticed a light flickering from an upper window in the building across the street, fire. Either it was still burning from an accident or someone set it. And if someone set it, then they might still be up there. I bet they have food and water.

Out of sheer habit, I looked both ways for cars, before crossing the street. When I got to the door, I noticed that it had been pushed into the building, meaning someone broke in. They must be up there.

"Hello?" My raspy voice called out from either not being used or only screaming for the past few days. In result, I coughed a couple of times and tried to swallow before I called out again. "Hello, anyone in here?"

Judging from the lack of light inside, there is no electricity. No electricity means, no elevator. Guess I'll have to find a staircase. Glass and other materials cracked and broken under my feet as I slowly made my way through the building, while carefully stepping over the dead bodies. No matter how many times I see it, I will never get used to so many of them.

Eventually I found my way to a staircase towards the back of the building and started heading up. The fire was on the third or fourth floor after all. Halfway up, a couple of gurney beds blocked my route. Looks like someone tried to take refuse here before. Or it's the same person still hunkered down. If that's the case, my safety is guarantee for at least the night.

Either way, I'm going to have to find another stairwell. I headed back to the second floor and gently pulled the door opened as I called out a friendly greeting again. If someone was here I had to let them know I wasn't a threat. From further down the hall something clanged against the floor, like a small pot or tin cup. "Is someone there?"

My cry for attention was met by a now all too familiar snarl. My heart sank, not again. Sure enough, a small group of them stepped into the light. It was just like back in my dorm, except now I had no way to lock the door. That and this time I had to push through them if I wanted to make it upstairs to whoever was up there. Please let someone be up there.

I took off at full speed, slipped past the first two, but the third almost grabbed my arm. I instinctively screamed as its hand brushed against me. No sooner was I past them then they gave chase.

It was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. No matter how much I ran, I could not get these things off my heels. I soon made it to the opposite side stairway and as I climbed, I was starting to lose hope that I would make it out of here alive. That was until I saw the flickering light though the half glass window of a door halfway down the hall on the fourth floor. No matter how cheesy it sounded to me, all I could think was the line from the Poltergeist movie, 'Run to the light.'

"Please help me!" The door burst open and a figure jumped out almost as soon as I cried out. The first thing I saw was two round hole in front of me. I took me a second to put together what it was, and all I could think was 'Dear Mary mother of God, that's a big gun.'

"Get down!" He screamed at me.

It wasn't like I had much choice, because I hadn't eaten today, I had no strength left and my knees buckled out underneath me. No sooner had I dropped to my knees, the loud bang from the monstrous gun went off and the sound of a thud followed. That came fast, really fast. Either he has great timing, or he would have shot whether I dropped down or not. Hoping for the latter I covered my head as the second large loud explosions went off in my ear.

"Get the fuck in here, now!" He yelled in the second of silence while he reloaded the weapon.

I crawled forward while above me came the sound of clicking and two small plastic and metal tubes landing next to my head, followed by more explosions. Five in total by the time I made my way inside the room.

Moaning and snarling came from down the stairway. Apparently all the noise we had created had attracted more of those creatures. In a second he slammed the door closed and pulled the nearby cabinet down in front of the door. That was when I realized it was the only door to the room.

The cabinet wasn't the only thing he used to block the entryway. He soon found a large desk that he tried to push it in front of the door, but it seemed to be a little too heavy for him. Aggravated, he turned his attention to me. "Help me move this in front of the door!"

"What, oh yes right, I'm coming." I jumped up and began pushing on the opposite side of the desk. The feet scraped against the ground and in seconds it was in front of the door with the rest of the furniture.

For a second I thought I could catch my breath, but pounding on the door sent my heart into my throat. I stood there, frozen in fear until he grabbed my shoulder and guided my across the room. We were soon in front of a large walk-in refrigerator, inside which were items that must have been his belongings.

"Get in." His voice was very commanding again as he half shoved me inside the confined quarters and closed the door behind us. Now in the dark, I barely saw him as he started shuffling through his bag, the whole time he mumbled to himself. "Great, like it's not bad enough I have to deal with these zombies because my pack slows me down, now I have some crazy chick practically bringing them straight to me."

"I didn't mean to." I tried to defend my actions, but he wasn't listening to me. He was too focused on finding whatever it was he was looking for. Soon he pulled out a small tube out of his backpack and bent it, which caused it to let off a faint green glow.

"There that's better." He mumbled to himself yet again. From outside the small room we could hear the 'zombies' as he put it continuing to bang on the door. "Well, with any luck they won't be able to open the door and I can stay in here and wait for them to starve to death. Ha, like I'm that lucky." He finally pulled a box out from within his bag, and upon opening it, I saw it was a half empty twenty-five round box of shotgun ammunition. After grabbing his gun, he pulled the front handle a couple of times, clearing out any ammunition that might still be in there. Once he was sure nothing was left inside, he flipped it over and started loading shell after shell into the slots on the underbelly. Just when I thought it couldn't take anymore he pumped the handle again, causing the gun to click, and then loaded one more shell into each side. "Perfect, just perfect, now I've only got one box of shells left, if this keeps up I'll be dead within the week."

"I said I'm sorry." Again he ignored me and continued his rant.

"Why the hell did she have to come in here anyways? Why couldn't she just get eaten like everyone else?" I was about to say something, but his next words both silenced and flattered me. "What am I say, hell I'm glad to see another person. I mean an actual living _breathing_ human being, not too bad on the eyes and she's even close to my age, what am I complaining about? But what if she's infected?"

"Huh?"

In a moment that took me completely by surprise, he became incredibly angry. In seconds he turned around, pulled a revolver front his belt, and pointed the business end of the weapon at my face. My hand flew up next to my head as he started berating me with questions. "Who are?"

"Wha-"

"Answer me!" His eyes went crazy for a second as I was filled with terror. It took all I had to hold back the tears. My head was completely blank. He threw his arm forward and I cringed away, fearing the worst. Yet he didn't hit me, instead he grabbed the purse from my shoulder and started ruffling through it. He soon found the keys in my purse, on which was a name. "So, Trixie, how long have you been without air protection?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Air protection," He gestured to something in the corner. "How long have you been without a mask?"

That's when I understood what he meant, the airborne stain of the mysterious virus. "I never had one. I got the antivirus injection at my school five days ago."

I could smell a musky scent coming off of him as he leaned in really close. His eyes locked with mine. In his sapphire blue eyes, I could just make out the reflection of my own slightly darker blue eyes, hidden behind a pair of glasses. After noticing that neither of our eyes had the tell tale red hue of the infected, he finally seemed to relax.

I sat there in a state of shook as he settled into a seat on the floor across the room from me. With no clock, I was unable to keep track of how long we sat there in silence watching each other. Soon, I couldn't look at him anymore. It felt awkward. Instead, my eyes wondered the small room and soon landed on something that I couldn't take them off of, a cookie, a delicious looking chocolate chip cookie. I know it is not much, but it was food, and my lips suddenly felt really dry.

"You want it?"

"What?" My attention snapped back to his face. Judging by way he was looking at me, it was obvious he had been watching me the whole time.

"When's the last time you ate?" In honesty, I had no clue. I shrugged my shoulders because it was the only answer I could give him. He heaved a huge sigh before grabbing the cookie and holding it up to me. "Here, it's not much, but it's all I got available."

"Thank you." With that, I ate the cookie in three bites, and then pulled the water bottle out of my purse once more to wash down the slightly dry cookie. I know it's not much, but anything was better than nothing right now, and for that I was grateful. As we sat there in silence, listening to the sound of the banging near the door growing quieter. Eventually, all was quiet. No banging, no snarling, just silence. I couldn't take it. "So, where are you heading?"

His head was tilted back against the wall, and he made no attempt to move it as he answered my question. "I'm heading east, to Virginia."

"What's in Virginia?"

"My parents, hopefully." After heaving a heavy sigh, he finally looked down at me. "How about you?"

"I'm also looking for my parents. I'm heading just a few more miles south to Dimmsdale."

A grim look suddenly took over his face. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

It was barely noticeable, but I caught him clenching him fists. "Don't go to Dimmsdale, there's no one left."

"How do you know?"

"Because I just came from there, it's my home town."

"Really?" He nodded in response. "Will you take me back?"

"No, I'm not going back there." The hurt tone in his voice was enough that it broke my heart, but I still needed to get home. I had to know for sure whether or not my family was still alive.

"Please, I have to find my parents." I pleaded with him. He stayed remarkably silent, like he was struggling with himself inside his head. With tears brimming in my eyes, I reached for his arm and made one last attempt to persuade him. "Please, I'm so close, if you don't help me I'll never make it there alive."

In a second he threw off my arm, all the kindness he had shown me up until now vanished in a second. "And if you go there, you won't make it out alive either!"

That was the final straw. In seconds I broke down crying and tears flowed from my eyes like a river. You would think being dehydrated would have stopped it, but it had no effect. I couldn't look at him anymore. I sat curled in a ball with my buried my face in my knee. "I just want to go home."

"Look, I'm sorry, but our home doesn't exist anymore."

"Please," I pulled my head up to look at him, "Please, I need to know what happened to my family. If they're dead, I need closure, otherwise I will always wonder if there something I could have done?"

Placing a hand on his face, he shook his head, and after a second, combed his fingers through his hair and sighed again. "Okay, fine."

My heart jumped. "What?"

"I'll do it. I'll take you home."

I couldn't help myself from jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck. "Oh thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Okay, okay, you can let go now or you won't have a travel guide." That's when I felt his hands pulling on my arm.

Blushing like crazy, I jumped back. "Oops, I'm sorry."

Overhead the lights flickered on, followed by the fans. In seconds, cool air was blowing on the two of us. The boy across from me started chuckling. I'll never forget the sound because it was like music to my ears after a week of silence or screaming. "Oh, that's just _perfect_. Stuck in this small room with a girl I just met, who has already manipulated me into taking her home, and now I'm going to freeze to death."

"We could step outside." As if to answer my comment, a snarl came from somewhere beyond the door, letting us know our unwanted guest were still around.

Another chuckle escaped his throat as he shook his head. "Yeah, I think not."

"So what are our options get eaten or freeze to death?"

"Pretty much, well, at least I'm prepared." I was about to ask what he was talking about, when he reach into his pack and pulled out some kind of camouflage blanket. With a flick of his arms the blanket unraveled which nearly took up the entire floor space on his half of the room. Only it wasn't a blanket. It was a sleeping bag. I watched as he quickly kicked off his shoes and crawled inside. Once he was settled, he looked back up at me as a violent shiver shook my body. Then he did something I didn't expect. He reopened the flip and held it up. "Come on, get in."

"Will both of us even fit in there?" I know I should have just joined him, it's already cold enough that if I don't I'll catch a death of cold, but I just met this boy.

"Just get in here." He lifted the top layer higher as I rushed forward.

Like him I threw off my flats and crawled in. It was a little tight, but he was still able to pull the zipper closed behind me. In a moment that took me by surprise, he snaked his other arms around me, pulling me closer. It wasn't like I could push away. There simply wasn't enough room. Besides, I was freezing, and the heat coming off of his body drew me in a magnet to steel as I shivered again.

"Shh, it's okay. Just relax and let the heat take you." It took a minute, but the trembling eventually slowed to a stop. "There, better?"

"Much, thank you, uh…" That was when I realized, I didn't know his name. He's saved him life from those creatures, given me food, and kept me from freezing to death and I don't even know his name. How horrible can I be to not ask for his name?

"Timmy, my name is Timothy Turner." He smiled at me and I almost lost it. Here we were, finally in the light, and his smile just made me feel like everything was going to be okay.

I returned his smile and snuggled in closer. "Good night, Timmy."

"Good night Trixie."

Oops, I forgot about my roommates keys. "Tootie."

"Huh?" I could tell by the sound of his voice he was almost asleep.

"My name," I started and felt him shift, which told me I had his complete attention, "Is Tootie Flannigan."


	4. You're Not Alone

Disclaimer- I DO NOT OWN FAIRLY ODDPARENT or any song, band, places, objects, or movies mentioned and I make no money by adding them to my story.

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Song List:  
You Are Not Alone (feat Tara Mc Donald) – by David Guetta

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**Zombie Nation**

Chapter 3  
**You Are Not Alone**

Rocks crunched under our feet as we marched on back to Dimmsdale. I was in the lead because I was the one armed. However, on agreement, because I was armed and needed to be quick to respond to threats, she was carrying my pack. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't taking chances. I had the MRE bag, so if she wanted food she had to stick around, and if she does take off with the rest of my stuff, she won't get far.

Although, she has already proven that she is quite smart and trustworthy up to now. Hell, she was the one that got us out of the hospital without a fight. With the zombies still at the door blocked by furniture, she recommended shooting out the window of the bank across the street. I thanked my lucky stars that the power was still on. When that alarm went off, those zombies practically ran to investigate while we slipped downstairs and out a back door.

Thankfully, because I could walk around without the hindrance of my mask, and I had a set destination, we made good time during our travel. The only thing that was pissing me off was she brought up the same complaint for the third time today. "Timmy, I'm hungry, can we please stop to eat?"

"How can you be hungry, we just ate this morning."

"I know, but we've been walking for two days and only eaten one other time, and that was yesterday."

What was she complaining about? We've had the same amount of food. The only reason I'm holding off on eating more is to make it last. Not to mention she almost threw up the first full meal I gave her because she tried to eat too much too fast. I even told her to take it slow, let her system get used to eating again. Besides, who knows the next time I'll find more food, and once she's home and we part ways, I'll need all the food I can get my hands on. "Tell you what. We'll stop in another mile."

"You said that five miles ago." Her wining voice grinned on my ear drums. "Please Timmy, I'm ready to collapse."

Her whining I could take. What I couldn't take was the half sob creeping into her complaint. I turned back just in time to see her almost loss her footing. She was defiantly loosing strength fast. I took a look around. We were on a side road into town to avoid the zombies, but the result was fewer houses. Thankfully, from where we are, I could make out the 'Welcome to Dimmsdale' sign.

"Tootie look, you see that sign?" She pulled herself together long enough to acknowledge my question with a nod. "There is a house, about a half mile over the hill from that sign. We'll be safe to eat there. So when I say another mile, I mean it this time. Do you think you can make it?"

"I'll try." I held out my hand. She took it and forced her feet back under herself as I pulled her up. There may be hope for her yet.

In less than an hour we arrived at the house, a simple single story unit with a tire swing hanging from the tree in the front yard. I made her wait outside as I made sure it was secure. Sure enough, no zombies here. I gave her the all clear and locked the door behind us as we set our – well my – stuff down. And wouldn't you know, while we were waiting for our food to cook, I heard a noise outside. I peeked out through the drawn blinds to see a swarm of zombies, at least twenty of them traveling together, probably in search of their next meal. I signaled to her to stay quiet and grabbed hold of my shotgun.

Thirty agonizing minutes later, they disappeared over the ridge. Feeling I could relax, I took a heavy breath and set my gun down next to my backpack. "That was a close one, looks like we won't have to run today, well, at least not yet."

"Good, because I don't think I would have made it."

"Well, not until you had this." And I handed her the now warm vegetable lasagna food pack.

She took the pack, pulled out the enclosed spoon, and smiled. "Thank, but that's not what I meant."

I opened my own pouch matching packet and dug in. "Then what do you mean?"

A small laugh escaped her throat as she stirred the content of her packet. "Well, besides being hungry and tired, my feet were killing me. I haven't walked that far for no reason in a long time."

I swallowed the second bite of my meal before I responded to her comment. "Don't worry, give it a week or two and your feet will adjust."

"And what makes you such an expert?" Her dark blue, almost violet, eyes peered over her glasses as she asked the question.

"Well, about two years ago, during the summer thankfully, my father dropped me off deep in the woods with nothing but this knife." I patted the fifteen inch survival knife strapped to my right hip to emphasize what I was talking about. "And I do mean nothing else."

Her face suddenly turned cherry red and she almost chocked on her most recent mouthful. "Not even clothes."

"Besides a belt to hold it up, nope." Her eyes when wide and she was rendered speechless. "He left me butt naked and told me as my final trial I had to survive in the wild for the whole summer by myself. Thankfully, I had my training to rely on, but it was the first time I had to put any of it to work."

"Did you do okay?" I could not believe she just asked me that question, and the look on my face must have expressed it, because she quickly responded. "I know, sorry, silly question."

"Yeah well, to answer your question, yes I did okay. The first week was tough though, no clothes, no food. Thankfully, my knife has a hidden compartment in the handle that holds a plastic container, inside that were three waterproof strike anywhere matches, ten feet of fishing line and a hook. Also, there's a hole near the blade tip to use it as a fishing rod, and serrated blade on the back for cutting wood. By noon of the second day I found shelter in a small cave, built a fire, and caught a couple of fish. By the end of the week my snares had caught two rabbits and I used the skins to fashion a pair of shorts. Within three week, I wasn't surviving, but thriving."

"Wow, even though I feel bad for the rabbits, that's pretty impressive." I shrugged at her comment. "How did your friends feel about you disappearing for 3 months?"

"What friends? No one wants to hang out with you when your parents are nuts. Especially went your father sets off random emergency drills throughout the day."

"Well if we had meet before, you know, all of this," She gestured to the room around us, "I would have been your friend, crazy parents or not." She gave me a sheepish smile as she tacked on the last bit.

"Thanks." After that we ate in silence. Well, I ate. She kind of just sat there, watching me.

That was until she started with her next line of questioning. "So Timmy, if you lived in Dimmsdale your whole life, how come we never met before?"

"I don't know." That was honestly the best answer I could come up with.

"Didn't you go out to the mall, or the park, or the movie theater, anything?" I could hear the disbelief in the tone of her voice.

"No, I didn't, any free time I had was spend at the gun range honing my skills or in the basement sorting supplies."

She then set her food pack down on the space beside her and started counting off her fingers the aspects of my life. "So you had no friends, no social life, and spent all you time preparing for the end of the world because of your eccentric father."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up my life."

"I'm sorry."

In disbelief of my own ears, I stopped and looked up at her face. Sure enough, the signs on her face signaled she was being completely sincere. "What are you apologizing for?"

"I'm sorry that you didn't have more fun during you childhood."

"Don't be. If it wasn't for my 'eccentric' father," I even added air quotes to emphasize the term she used, "putting me through all that, neither one of us would be alive right now." With that I finished my meal and tossed the pack into the corner. Not like I had to clean up now that the world was going to hell.

"I guess you have a point."

She suddenly got quiet, and instead of relishing in the silence, I turned the tables on her. "Now you know what I've done, so where have you been for the past, I don't know, ten years?"

"I've been upstate at the Sacred Heart all-girl boarding school."

"That explains the outfit." I mumbled to myself.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" She bickered at me from across the coffee table. Note to self, she has good hearing.

"Well, from what I can see, you're wearing a white button-up blouse with matching black sweater vest and necktie combo. Not to mention a long sleeve jacket and socks, and a knee length plaid skirt."

Her pout was ever so clear on her lips and she pulled at the center hem of the skirt. "So, it's the school uniform, and I think it's rather cute."

"Whatever." With that, silence spread between the two of us until my next question. "So what were you doing in a catholic boarding school Tootie, were you a little hell raiser before?"

Her jaw dropped in shock. "No, I was always a good girl. It's entirely my sister's fault."

"You never mentioned a sister before."

"Yeah, she six years older than I am and she was the hell raiser as you put it. Always out partying, coming home late, and starting fights both in and out of school."

"And your parents punished you?"

"No." She was either lying, or she's been brain washed. "Well, maybe at first."

That sounds more like it. "So what happened?"

"It started with another huge fight between her and our parents. She came home late and drunk for the third time in a week. At that point they finally had enough and threw her out with only the clothes on her back and her car keys. The next school year they sent me to boarding school to prevent me from becoming just like her. I didn't like it at first, but since I gave myself over to the lord, I've found peace and happiness."

"So what, you were going to become a nun?"

She giggled, which I admit I missed hearing the sound of a girl giggle. Something about it made me feel like the world was a little less doomed. "No, I always wanted to get married and have children someday. You can't do that as a nun. Nope, I'm afraid I wanted to veterinarian."

"At least you had a choice."

"What do you mean by that?"

I stretched my back before closing my eyes and lying back along the couch I was sitting on. "Well, once I graduated school, my father was going to take me down to enlist in the Marines. Said it would help prepare me for everything coming. Oh well, it would have helped me become a police officer anyways. That and it would get me away from my family for a few years so it wasn't like I was complaining."

"And now you're trying to find them." I opened my eyes to find her slightly leaning over towards with the almost empty packet resting next to her feet. "Seems kind of backwards when you think about it, huh?"

"We should get moving, you done yet?"

"I guess, you want the cookie, I do kind of owe you one." She held of the small packet that contained the chocolate chip cookie.

"That's alright, you have it."

Once we wrapped everything up and got going, it only took us another two hours to reach her block, at which point she found enough energy to run to her home. It was a light purple colonial style house, complete with white picket fence surrounding the back yard. The only thing that seemed odd was the porch light next to the door was still on.

Before she had a chance to open the door, I held out my arm and lightly pushed her away. "Why don't you let me scope it out first, you don't know what's in there."

"No, it's my home, and either I go with you or by myself."

"Fine." I held up my shotgun and made sure it was ready. "Open it, and then stay behind me."

She did as I told her, but when she got behind me, she grabbed into my shirt and wouldn't let go. Either she's trying to make sure I don't ditch her, or she's more frightened then she's letting on. Whatever her reason, we moved slowly through the living room to the kitchen to start, only to find it empty. We made the way back to the living room and up the staircase. The first door across from the landing was locked with several pad locks on the outside.

I turned to Tootie and shook my head as I gestured to the door, and in a very hushed voice she answered me. "My sister's room, she has the only keys to the locks, so nothing has been changed since she left the house."

"Gotcha, how many rooms left?" It didn't surprise me when she held up two fingers. Her house was about the same size as mine, with only a small change in layout.

Her room was next down the hall, and when we took a quick peeked inside, despite her sudden scarlet blush, I saw it was filled with typical girl things – stuffed animal, pink walls, and posters of boy bands including Chip Skylark the third – but no parents, which only left her parent's bedroom at the end of the hall. This was it, either they were there, or they left the house for good.

As we got closer I could hear noise inside, and I held out my hand to stop Tootie behind me. She pulled on my sleeve before I could open the door, clearly signally the same as her threat at the front door.

I cracked the door open, but nothing stood out right away. Slowly I made my way inside, with Tootie right behind me. "Mom, Dad, you in here?"

As we stepped further in, I saw it before she did. A man was crouched over behind the bed, and I didn't get a good feeling when I saw it. "Back up."

"What?"

"Back up slowly." I warned her as I gently pushed her towards the door. Before I could make her move, the creature heard us and stood up. It was skinny, tall, and blood darkened its already red hair. I moved her behind me and readied my gun but not before she got a look at what it was.

"Daddy?" Her voice cracked as the creature turned and locked its red eyes on us, its blood covered face twitching with fresh hunger. She stepped back, but I could feel by her hand on my back, that she wanted to step forward. "Daddy, it's me, your little angel."

"Tootie, that thing is not your father anymore."

"Yes he is." I felt her try to get around me again, but I held her back.

"Look, if you don't believe me, look what happened to her." I jerked my head in a manor to point behind the slowly advancing creature.

Behind him was the body of what was once a middle-aged woman. The entire stomach was torn apart and there were bite marks everywhere. The worst part had to be half her face was missing. As soon as Tootie saw her, she gasped and nearly collapse in shock. "Mom, oh God no."

"Sorry Tootie, but like I said, he's as much your father now as she is breathing." As if to confirm my comment, it snarled and I reacted on instinct. I shoved her back, and because she was not expecting it, she fell over. The creature rushed forward, but I was ready. Two deafening explosions rang out in the room before the creature fell. In seconds the whole thing was over and the room was drowned in silence. The first thing to break the silence was her sobbing as she curled up. "Hey, you okay?"

"No I'm not, my mother is dead and you just killed my father."

"I'm sorry," I knelt down beside her but she did little to move, "But it was him or us."

"I know." She sniffed trying to center herself, but I could tell something other than her dead parents was bothering her, and soon she revealed what it was. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

That was when she finally pulled her face out of her knees and looked up at me, her eyes already bloodshot from crying. "Kill so easily."

I knew that question was coming eventually. Honestly I don't know what makes it so easy, but off the top of my head I came up with an excuse that would put her at ease. "I don't think of it as killing them, but putting them out of their misery."

"I guess that helps."

If it was feasible, I would have let her sit there and cry to her hearts contain, but the constant nagging feeling on the back of my neck was telling me we should leave already. I managed to ignore it for about ten minutes before it got the better of me. I stood up again, leaned over, and place a hand on her shoulder to get her to focus on me. "Look, I know you're hurting inside right now, but it's not safe here. My house, you remember the one with the safe room that I told you about the other night, well it's not far from here. If you want to come with me until we find you somewhere safer, you can cry all you want there tonight, okay?"

She nodded and when offered my hand, took it. "Can we lay my parents to rest before we go?"

"Well, we don't have the time or luxury to bury them," I could already see fresh tears welling behind her eyes at my comment, "But I know one way we can do it while saving time."

"What are you going to do?" She asked somewhat nervously while wiping away the tears.

"Don't you worry about it, for now let's see what you have that we can take with us."

She agreed and we went back into her room to see if we could find her some new clothes because she didn't like the idea of zombie blood on her back from when I saved her at the hospital. We reentered the room to find the same as before, except now that we were paying attention we discovered a rosary set with a note under it on her pillow. The red bead rosary itself wasn't crazy over the top, but with leaf spade tipped arms and a heart shaped ruby center, the cross was one of the most decorative I have ever seen. But it wasn't just the cross. Underneath it was an envelope. Tootie opened it, unfolded the note, and after reading it teared up again, but managed to hold back her sobbing. I was about to ask what it said when she handed it to me.

The damn thing was three pages long, single spaced, in elegant hand-writing which indicated that her mother must have wrote it. It went on explain how proud they were to her a daughter like her and they planned to give her the cross for graduation, but they were too excited to wait and Thanksgiving seemed like a better time to do it.

Aside from the cross and letter, there were a few articles of clothing left, but nothing we could use right now, it was all summer clothing. All her winter clothing was at school for when she had weekends off and wanted to go into town. Not to mention all her unmentionables – as she put it – were also at school.

With that information, I decided to invade her sister's privacy by kicking the door open, and wouldn't you know it, everything had been cleared out except one article of clothing, a zip-up panda hoodie. It had everything too, white body with black front pockets and sleeves. The sleeves even had paw print marks and a thumb cut out. There was even a panda face and ears on the hood. To top it off, there were hearts on the right ear, both sleeve paws, and the left front pocket.

Obviously something only a girl would go nuts for, and if on cue, Tootie squealed when she saw it. "Oh, it so cute."

"If it's so cute, why didn't your sister take it?"

"Huh?"

Either she's not as smart as she looks or she's just dense. "The locks were still on the door, either you parent had the locks replaced, or she snuck back in while everyone was sleeping."

"Oh."

And just like that I killed her moment of joy. Damn it Turner, sometimes you need to learn to keep your mouth shut. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm usually a shut in so I'm not used to dealing with other people. Ignore what I said, I'll be outside."

I quickly left the room and set to the work I needed to do, dragging her parents' bodies outside. While I was pulling out her father, I noticed Tootie had made her way back into her own bedroom. By the looks of it she was drawing comfort in the familiar safe feeling of home. I slowly closed the door, so she wouldn't see what I was doing, and set back to work. Once the first one was out in the backyard, I went back for her mother. I could barely stomach to look at the condition of the body. Nonetheless, I eventually got her outside too.

Once I had both of them outside, I headed back inside so I could access the garage. I soon found what I was looking for, a can of gasoline. My bottle of kerosene was running low after all. I set the can outside and made my way back in, the first and most important stop, the kitchen. I went through every cabinet, pulling out cans and dry boxes of food, and cramming everything I could into the MRE bag, which was just over half full, but by the time I was done, well stuffed.

I figured by the time I was done doing all this, Tootie would have joined me back downstairs, but after the ten minutes that it took me to complete all these tasks, there was no sign of her. In the end I decided to go back upstairs to find her. Sure enough she was in her room. From what I could tell, during the time I was gone, she ditched the school jacket and tie, and put on the panda hoodie. I had to admit, it was kind of 'cute' on her. But the fact she was hunched over told me she was still feeling blue. As I got closer I noticed she was caressing what looked like a family photo taken years ago, because they were four people in the picture. It wasn't a large picture, maybe four by six.

She looked over at me as I sat next to her on the bed. "Hey, you ready to move out."

"I guess, but I was hoping that day wouldn't come until I finished college in another couple of years." She pulled up her purse, which lay next to her, and placed the picture, frame and all, inside. With that signal, we stood at the same time and made our way downstairs, and as we headed into the backyard, she spoke up. "So how are you planning to put my parents to rest?"

"You ever hear of a Viking funeral?" I held up the gas can as I presented my question.

"Y-yes." She answered nervously.

At the point I poured a healthy amount of fuel on her parents, much to her displeasure, and ended by leading a trail up to where she stood. After that, I pulled my knife from my hip, unscrewed the bottom, extracted one of the three matches and held it out to her. "Light it."

She took a step back as if the match would bite her. "What? I can't do that, they may be dead but they're still my parents."

"Would you rather another zombie comes along and continue eating them?" I gestured to the flesh pile that was her parents.

"No, but why do you want me to do it?"

"It will give you closure knowing they can no longer be harmed." I stepped closer to her and held out the match once more.

"Okay." She hid it well, but I could tell she was blinking back more tears as she took the match. I presented her with the knife where she stuck the match against the flat of the blade. She looked at the bodies of her parents one more time and before dropping the match, uttered one last thing. "Bye mom, bye dad, I love you guys. I pray I see you in heaven."

Her eyes closed and a single tear slid down her cheek as she dropped the lit match. The fuel trail caught the flame and in seconds the bodies were ablaze. Smoke billowed into the air and the heat was intense just like the first time I set a zombie pile up. I guess there is something about their decaying flesh does that. Either that or I used too much gasoline.

She surprised me though. I half expected her to run off crying, but she stood firm and watched the pile burn. It wasn't until they had been reduced to a pile of ashes that she spoke again. "I'm all alone now."

The way she said it made it sound like a comment more than a question. I held out my hand to her, letting her know I would be there for her in her time of need. "You know, we'll never know what lies ahead tomorrow, but you're not alone."

"Wherever you go, I'll follow." She took my hand, and genuinely smiled for the first time since I met her.

I smiled back at her, hoping to ease her pain a little. I let her hand go and grabbed my gun and food bag as I turned to the fence gate. "Come on, let's go."

She picked up the backpack and started following me the short walk up two streets to my home. And it didn't take me long to figure out the place had been ransack since I left. Everything was on the floor. Before I could explore the house I needed to make sure it was secure. The first thing I did was lock the front door, follow by drawing all the first floor steel security window shades and securing them in place. I kept my guard up the whole time I moved through the house. You never know if someone is going to jump out and attack you. Thankfully, Tootie stayed in the living room so I wouldn't have to worry about jumping at her sudden touch.

The second floor was just a messy as downstairs. Whoever came through here was as thorough as I was at Tootie's house. Soon I had every shielding shade drawn and locked. Once the final back door was locked, I signaled Tootie to follow me downstairs to the safe room in the basement. Even that had been torn apart. The only consolation, the gun safe was still locked, which meant I could restock on ammunition before we leave.

"Damn it!" I threw an empty box – which was once filled with various battery packs – across the room in frustration. "I should have locked this place up before I left."

"Timmy, is everything okay?" Tootie whispered from the door of the safe room.

"Besides almost everything being stolen, yeah, I'm doing just peachy." She gradually made her way inside while I let my temper cool. "Well, we might as well get comfortable. With those shapes drawn we'll be safe here for the night."

"Okay." She slid the backpack off her back and placed it on the ground. Then she did something I wasn't expecting. She started crying. It began slowly with a light sob and soon broke out in a loud wailing as her knees gave out and she knelt on the floor with her face buried in her hands.

I rushed over, not because I needed her to be quiet – the walls were soundproofed after all – but because I knew exactly what she was breaking down about. "Shh, it's okay. Come on, don't cry."

"But you said…I could cry…as much as I want…once we were…safe." She choked out between her sobbing.

"I did say that, didn't I?" My mild humor did little to cheer her up. Instead I sat down beside her and pulled her into my shoulder. "Go ahead, let it out. Let it all out."

Once I gave her the go ahead, she let it flow freely. Her wailing bounced off the walls. Tears soaked my shirt. Though, I'm not complaining on her action, I mean both her parents are dead. I've already accepted the fact I may never find my own, it is a zombie apocalypse after all. Honestly, I'm surprised just how long and well she held all this in until we were safe.

She kept at it well pass the time my legs went numb from sitting on the floor. Eventually it became very quiet, and it wasn't until after a couple minutes of silence that I realized the reason why was because she had passed out on me. Even then, occasionally she would twitch, like she was dreaming. Gently prying her death grip off my shirt, I laid her down to rest, and surprisingly found myself wishing she rested tranquilly with dreams of better times.


End file.
